It is well known in the prior art to construct ice boats and a variety of other devices to sail on ice and snow. It is also well known to manufacture devices for sailing on water which comprise a sailboard and a hand held sail mounted on the sailboard by means of an articulated mast. (The term "sailboard" is sometimes used in the prior art to mean only the hull of such a sailing craft and sometimes to indicate to whole craft including the sail. In this specification it is used to refer to the hull portion only.) The sail of such craft is usually equipped with a wishbone boom or functionally similar structure to enable a sailor to pull (or to push) the sail against the wind from either side of the sail. The articulated mast permits the sailor freely to rotate or pivot the sail as he wishes to control and direct the craft in the wind. Such sailboats are hereafter referred to as "free sail" sailboats.
It is also known to the inventor that attempts have been made in the prior art to construct free sail sailboats for sailing on snow or ice. The inventor is aware of
C.P. 1,148,587 to Bruce Price, PA0 C.P. 1,204,467 to Francois Lecomte PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,341 to Torok PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,567 to Swanson PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,436,087 to Noland PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,357 to Krupnik PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,262 to Riedel, and
D. 194,270 to Dunn
All such devices known to the inventor seem, however, to be constructed on the same principle, that is, a platform is provided upon which a sailor rides and either ski runners for snow or skate blades for ice are provided on struts to permit sliding over the terrain. In the inventor's opinion, having a platform separated from the runners by struts provides an inherently weak structure. It is particularly important to have a stable and strong structure should the runners strike a hole or crack in ice or other irregularities in the terrain surface. A depending blade or a ski might get caught, bend or break to cause the sailboard to upset. Since a sailing craft on ice or snow can achieve high speeds, such as 60-70 miles per hour, there could be serious consequences if there was a sudden loss of control and failure of the supporting structure in a high speed condition.
It has also been observed that many prior art sailing craft of this type have outstanding parts, such as a cross beam and front extension for the runners, which could catch on landscape features in passing and thereby create a dangerous situation during high speed sailing.
The present invention is designed to overcome these problems and may be constructed in a single piece to present a sailing device with no outstanding parts. The sailboard has a low design profile to be as close to the ground as possible. Therefore, it is perceived by the inventor to be safer than those known in the prior art. A large underside "surfing area" acts like a snowshoe in deep soft snow and will support a sailor on the surface of the snow and not get stuck like other prior art devices might. The sailboard is very manoeuvrable allowing the operator to turn sideways while rolling the sailboard over at an angle such as 45.degree. while gliding or sailing on one runner only. In this position there is a lot more gripping against lateral slippage and greater potential for high speed. The board is built like a surfboard and has some water floating capabilities so that in emergengy situations it can go over weak ice or even some open water.
Further, the present invention provides a structure that permits good steering control during operation over a wide range of speeds without having moveable steering controls on the sailboard. Therefore, steering may be obtained by weight shifts and sail manipulation by a sailor operating the sailing craft in a manner similar to that conventionally used for sailing sailboards on water. Thus, skills acquired from one sport may be readily transferred to the other because of the nature of the construction of the present invention. Accordingly, the construction has the advantage of facilitating access to an existing parallel market.